Donated
Arlington National Cemetery Horses Put Out to PastureThursday
November 17, 2005

Lincoln,
Nebraska - Horses specially trained for military burial services at Arlington
National Cemetery arrived in Nebraska last week, donated to perform similar
ceremonies at Lincoln's Wyuka Cemetery.

Instead,
they are frolicking on a farm south of town awaiting word on whether the
cemetery board of trustees wants to move ahead with the project.

Three
horses arrived last week, and more could be arriving in the coming months.

Ken
Gray, a Wyuka official who's been working with the U.S. military to obtain
the horses for about a year, is frustrated.

"We're
running into some people who don't want to see it happen, and they happen
to be our people," said Gray, who works with grieving families at the 136-year-old
cemetery.

Mike
Tefft, chairman of the cemetery's board, did not immediately return a message.
The other two board members, Cathie Petsch and Jeff Schumacher, also did
not immediately return messages seeking comment.

About
a year ago Gray contacted the military when brainstorming about ways to
honor Nebraska's fallen veterans.

He
eventually was put in touch with Major General Galen Jackman, the former
commander of the Military District of Washington who was widely seen escorting
Nancy Reagan at President Reagan's funeral.

Jackman
also has ties to Nebraska, having graduated from the ROTC program at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jackman was enthusiastic about the project
and without his support it wouldn't have gone anywhere, Gray said.

While
the board ponders what to do, the horses are living on a farm outside of
Lincoln owned by Don Everett, the president of Runza Restaurants and also
the president of the Nebraska Benevolent and Protective Association.

Everett
agreed to take them after Gray contacted the horse association to see if
anyone could help while the cemetery board figured out what to do.

"I
want to help the soldiers," Everett said, explaining his willingness to
assist with the project.

Collectively
they have participated in thousands of burials at Arlington, Gray said.

Since
they are getting up in age, 14, 16 and 17, the military decided it was
time for them to retire. And while they could have been sent to a horse
farm to live out their days, since they were trained to do burial ceremonies
and Wyuka came calling, the military went ahead with the project.

While
the horses would still be called on for services at Wyuka, they would not
be nearly as busy as at Arlington, where more than 1,000 ceremonies are
held a year by the Caisson Platoon of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, traditionally
known as "The Old Guard."

Gray's
vision is to offer similar military burials at Wyuka, with the Arlington
horses pulling the casket in a specially made caisson. Pledges are lined
up to pay for a $35,000 caisson to be built by the same manufacturer of
those used at Arlington, Gray said. Once built, it will be used in some
services at Arlington before being sent to Nebraska, he said.

Gray
also is in talks to have members of the Nebraska National Guard certified
by the U.S. military in how to conduct a funeral with the caisson.

"We
want the only other place to get this ceremony to be at Arlington National
Cemetery," Gray said.

He
does not know of any other civilian cemeteries with horses from Arlington
being used to pull caissons as he envisions. The horses would live at the
cemetery in stables built in the 1880s.

Mike,
left, and Casperina are seen in a snowy pasture near Lincoln, Nebraska,
Tuesday, November 15, 2005.The
horses, specially trained for military burial services at Arlington National
Cemetery,arrived
in Nebraska last week. They were donated to perform similar ceremonies
at Lincoln's WyukaCemetery,
but instead of working as intended, they are frolicking on a farm south
of town awaiting word onwhether
the cemetery board of trustees wants to move ahead with the projec

Ken
Gray, a Wyuka official, looks over Casperina, left, who is standing with
Mike, top, and Mabel,bottom
right, in a snowy pasture near Lincoln, Nebraska, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005.
The horses, speciallytrained
for military burial services at Arlington National Cemetery, arrived in
Nebraska last week.They
were donated to perform similar ceremonies at Lincoln's Wyuka Cemetery,
but instead of working asintended,
they are frolicking on a farm south of town, awaiting word on whether the
cemetery boardof
trustees wants to move ahead with the project.

Cemetery
board takes no action on Arlington Cemetery horses

The
board in control of Wyuka Cemetery was in a quandary Friday over what to
do about horses donated from Arlington National Cemetery for use in military
burials.

“I
want to make lemonade out of these lemons that have been dealt us,” said
Mike Tefft, chairman of the cemetery’s board at an emergency meeting. It
was called in response to an Associated Press story published Thursday
disclosing that the horses from Arlington had arrived.

Problem
is, the board members said, they didn’t know any horses were coming.

“They’re
not our horses,” said board member Cathie Petsch. “I’m not sure we need
to be concerned about who owns them.”

The
board decided to take no action, after being told that the three horses
have not been titled to Wyuka. Board members said they did not know who
had title to the horses.

Wyuka
employee Ken Gray, who spearheaded the project, was not at the meeting.
He declined to comment immediately when contacted Friday.

Tefft
said he didn’t know the horses were in Nebraska until he got an e-mail
Wednesday from Gray telling him about it. The horses had been in the state
for a week.

“I
will tell you I’ve never been so shocked in all my life,” Tefft said. “At
no time have we ever talked about getting horses from Arlington.”

The
board had discussed buying younger horses from a breeder that also sells
to Arlington, Tefft said.

“Used,
old horses have never been a part of the whole formula from day one,” Tefft
said.

Furthermore,
the board had told Gray to put the project on hold in April, July and again
in October, Tefft said. Military burials are proceeding at the cemetery,
just not any involving a caisson or horses, the board was told.

Gray
said on Tuesday that his vision was to use the retired Arlington horses
for burials at Wyuka with a caisson that had been used at the national
cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. Money has been pledged to pay for
a $35,000 caisson, he said.

The
three horses, Mike, Mabel and Casperina, have been in thousands of ceremonies
at Arlington, Gray said. Mike was used to help carry the caisson carrying
the body of President Ronald Reagan.

The
horses are being housed on a farm outside of Lincoln owned by Don Everett,
the president of Runza Restaurants and also the president of the Nebraska
Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association.

Tefft
said he had interest in the caisson project, but given all that was entailed
in making sure it would work he didn’t think it was wise to move ahead
at this time. Details about costs associated with boarding the horses and
building a new stable were not timely provided, contributing to the board’s
decision to put it on the back burner, he said.

Don
Everett said he expects to see the three specially trained horses who have
been staying at his Lincoln acreage leave by the end of the day Friday.

The
horses were donated last month to help provide military burials at Wyuka
Cemetery. They were retiring after years of burial duty at Arlington National
Cemetery.

They
are heading back to Virginia because neither the cemetery nor the Nebraska
National Guard agreed to use the animals in burials.

Cemetery
officials didn't return calls seeking comment. The Nebraska National Guard
said it had enough work providing flags and buglers at all veterans' funerals
in the state.Everett
is the well-known president of Runza Restaurants and the president of the
Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. He said he just
wanted to help when he took the horses. He said the loss of the animals
will be felt by Nebraska's veterans.